How the East Village Vintage Collective has become the neighborhood’s most fun shopping experience

Just another day at East Village Vintage Collective ! L-R: Owner Maegan Hayward, shop manager Alex Carpenter, Barella Roberson (below), Brendan O’Shea (above), Jaclyn Snook, Sam Oslyn, Jacques J. Point du Jour, Jessica Barr , Violet Lane

Photo by Bob Krasner

One day, we walked into a funky new vintage shop on East 12th Street and inquired about the business. “It’s a pop-up,” Maegan Hayward informed us. “We’ll only be here for three months.”

That was over eight years ago, and the East Village Vintage Collective looks like it’s sticking around.

Hayward — who went from went from studio manager at a post-production sound facility, to selling vintage clothes on eBay, to her own brick and mortar establishment — turned a side hustle into a career. It was her life partner Alex Carpenter, an artist and musician, who suggested that she take over the two-floor empty storefront that once hosted a Hungarian book store.

He probably didn’t realize at the time that he would end up quitting his freelance life — which rotated between sound editing and bookkeeping — to become the full time manager. 

At first the shop was an actual collective, with seven different vendors occupying the place, but, Hayward recalls, “there was so much drama!” Eventually it was down to Maegan, who wanted to wanted to create a space “in the old school style of the East Village that I always loved so much when I used to shop at vintage and antique stores in my teens. Colorful, fun and inclusive. Something for everyone and always a good time even if you don’t find the perfect thing that you’re looking for that day.”

Fun is definitely the key word!  The decor is a wild melange of kitsch and cool from a variety of eras, set to a soundtrack of whatever vinyl Alex is in the mood to pull from the racks and old TVs playing John Waters’ “Cry-Baby” or a collage of clips that combine everything from Pee Wee Herman to “The Golden Girls.”

Add that to the…